


Involvements

by Fiorenza_a



Category: The Professionals
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-04
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 14:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1269271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiorenza_a/pseuds/Fiorenza_a
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cowley: Bodie<br/>Bodie: Yeah I know, never come between a man and his woman. What about a man on his own who's taken a bit of stick, you got a proverb for that?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Involvements

Bodie exited the building, barely registering the relief of the fresh air against his skin after the claustrophobic atmosphere inside. It had been too intense. Doyle had been too intense.

Doyle had been too intense since meeting the woman who'd driven off and left him there, wounded and alone on the tarmac. As if he'd been trying to cram a lifetime of hope into a few short days. Doyle wanted a family, all the contentment and mundane domesticity their job denied them. He built a home wherever he went. An unspoken invitation to the life beyond his grasp.

''Come on mate'' Bodie tried as he neared Doyle's solitary figure, instinctively reaching out for the man who wore his abandonment like a shroud.

''Get lost Bodie'' Doyle fired back, shrugging him off and walking away. Bitterness and regret heating the words.

Bodie hesitated for an instant, searching his instincts for an approach. He'd never learned to deal with Doyle's pain. The man was always too raw, too vulnerable. His fragility scared Bodie. He'd known loss but never this closeness. Doyle was blood in a way even his own kin wasn't. He didn't know why and he had no desire to question it. Fortune had brought him a stubborn, idealistic, volatile, impatient man of skittish temperament and unwavering courage. A man with whom he shared little in common, but a man who had been fiercely loyal and unrelentingly generous in his assessment of him. He had few illusions as to the sort of man he was. Doyle saw something more. Something better. Something worth preserving. He doubted he deserved his place in Doyle's affections, but he was there none the less, and the knowledge of it drove him to protect his awkward and prickly partner against all the world could do to him; and all that he could do to himself. If Bodie had a home it was Doyle. Wherever Doyle was, whatever Doyle was doing. And right now he was falling apart.

''Don't be stupid Ray, you need me.''

Doyle stopped, turning to face him ''I'd get over meself if I were you mate. I don't need anyone. Or hadn't you noticed?''

''Yeah you do. But she's gone. Can't do anything about that sunshine. But I'm here and there's a pub round the corner. How about getting drunk with a mate?''

Something in Doyle softened and Bodie approached him again, this time his approach was not rejected. Doyle threw an arm around him as he admitted ''I thought it was finally going to happen for me, you know? I don't want to end up like Cowley. I want more than that. She made me laugh. She made it all seem worth it. Except she couldn't live with it. Couldn't live with me. What it's made me. What decent bird could?''

''There'll be someone mate.''

''How would you know, you're not even looking.''

''You're not me.''

''Yeah, well, there is that. Guess it's not all bad then eh?''

They'd passed beyond the car park now and Bodie briefly raised his hand to ruffle Doyle's curls. ''Just for that you're buying.''

''Hey, who's the one with the broken heart?'' protested Doyle, stoically shiny eyed and just a little unsteady. Bodie grinned.

It wasn't alright, couldn't be, not yet, and not for a while.

But it was going to be.

END


End file.
